The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made significant legal victories, including a major win against Bahria Town (Private) Limited, unlocking revenue to the tune of Rs36.14 billion previously stuck in litigation.
The development comes amid special interest and firm instructions from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to improve FBR’s legal strategy and push for results in court, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Monday.
“FBR has significantly improved its legal framework and achieved major success in resolving long-pending cases.
“Acting on the PM’s directives, FBR vigorously pursued pending cases in the Islamabad High Court. As a result, last week the court ruled in favor of FBR in cases collectively valued at Rs36.14 billion,” read the statement.
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Among last week’s major wins for the federal tax collecting authority were three high-value tax cases, with the most significant being the case against Bahria Town (Private) Limited.
“In this case, the IHC upheld a recovery decision in favour of FBR amounting to Rs26.446 billion.”
The case had been pending at various appellate forums for the past two and a half years.
Moreover, in two other corporate cases involving a total of Rs9.7 billion, the IHC also ruled in FBR’s favour.
“These victories are clear evidence of the government’s commitment to economic reforms,” read the statement.
According to the Ministry of Finance, revenue to the tune of trillions of rupees remains stuck in various legal disputes, hindering national revenue collection.
Thus, a coordinated legal strategy was developed for representation and litigation, which has now started yielding notable results for FBR, it added.